tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30421959505029294872018-03-06T09:37:40.317-08:00Angie Max 2012Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-59562501241756126232012-11-25T03:52:00.000-08:002012-11-25T03:52:47.053-08:00Her name was Astrid: The Day The Feds Killed My Dog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Six years ago, as I was nearing the end of my two-year prison sentence, I was (and had been for most of my stay) in the "dog program". This was a program designed to help save the lives of difficult-to-place dogs from one of the local animal shelters in Lexington, Kentucky. There were 20 inmates chosen out of approximately 300 to be a part of the dog program, and I was happy to be one of them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was our job to take the foster dog assigned to us and, with the help of an animal psychologist and trainer from the shelter, make the dog into a better candidate for becoming someone's beloved pet, thereby saving it from being put to death. It was a great program, because not only did it save a dog's life and provide a potential pet to the community, it also gave those of us who were a part of the program a sense that our time wasn't completely wasted while we were in prison.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dogs were already named by the shelter when they came to us. One day, they brought me a dog named Astrid, which means "divine strength".</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I trained and fostered several dogs during my stay at the prison, but Astrid was special. She was a&nbsp;Rottweiler/mix, black and brown, not particularly attractive OR unattractive - just a typical&nbsp;Rottweiler&nbsp;in need of some love and instruction... quite ordinary, except that she managed to steal my heart like none of the other dogs quite had.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was very playful. Her favorite game was tug of war, and she would give a playful growl as she tried to get the rope toy from whomever was playing with her. In fact, she loved to play tug of war so much, that if she started to get the upper hand and was about to overpower me, she would ease up, indicating that she enjoyed playing the game more than she enjoyed "winning".</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What really struck me about Astrid was how she was so sweet and loving and playful, despite the fact that she had never, even though she was more than a year old, had a home. She had been a stray from the beginning, and had spent her entire young life in captivity.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Animal shelters are even worse than prisons. The dogs rarely get to leave their cages, they don't get bathed much, if at all, and they don't get much attention. It's very noisy, extremely stressful, and just plain miserable.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until Astrid came to federal prison, misery was all she had ever known. It was no surprise to me that she thrived with the attention she got from my three roommates and I as we walked her, fed her, loved her, and trained her. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Astrid was, like many dogs are, very protective of those whom she viewed as part of her pack. When the guards came around twice a day for head count, she would bark nonstop, and there was one female guard (who was known for being more of a troublemaker than any inmate ever was) who made an issue of it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the primary trainer for Astrid, she was considered "my" dog to train, and my roommates were there to provide backup support and to help take care of her while I was carrying out my other responsibilities and unable to be with her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I asked the&nbsp;animal psychologist if he had any advice during a training session one day, and he made it clear that the best thing to do was ignore the barking. "Shushing" her or doing anything at all to try to get her to be quiet only reinforced the behavior, because that confirmed for her that she was bringing our attention to something that warranted attention from us, which made her think that her behavior was helpful.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The female guard making an issue of this became enraged when she came around to do head count and saw that we were no longer trying to quiet the dog. When she brought it up after head count one day, I explained (and my roommates backed me up) that the animal&nbsp;psychologist&nbsp;had told us we should ignore the barking and that it would eventually stop if she was given enough time to get acclimated to the routine of the guards coming around at the same time each day.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The response from this guard was to toss her head and say "whatEVER" as though she were an adolescent girl annoyed at someone. She continued to create drama over the barking, claiming that it interfered with her ability to conduct head count. (Funny, no other guards had trouble counting simply because the dog was barking.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This guard was not well-liked by any of her colleagues, and because of her reputation for being a trouble-maker and pot-stirrer, w</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e were all concerned that this guard was out to cause trouble for us because of her narcissistic annoyance that a dog would DARE bark in her presence, and we tried to make sure we never left Astrid in the room alone for that reason.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One evening, one of my roommates was staying in the room with Astrid while I visited with someone on another floor, and this guard opened the door to our room in as sudden a manner as was possible, almost as though she was TRYING to provoke a response from Astrid. Astrid was startled and jumped up quickly, then tried to get the guard to play with her by jumping on her the same way that Booger does (and many other dogs do) as well.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The guard had a few scratches on her where Astrid's sharp claws had scraped her skin (I have those all the time from playing with Booger) and then made a claim that Astrid had "attacked" her, even though there was more than one witness clearly stating that Astrid had merely playfully "jumped" at her the same way most dogs will.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, with a&nbsp;Rottweiler&nbsp;already dogged (no pun intended) by a bad reputation for her breed and an exaggerated claim made by a government employee, Astrid never stood a chance. Animal control was sent to pick her up a few days later, and was evaluated for aggressive behavioral tendencies.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll never forget how sad it was when they came to get her. My roommates and I went outside and petted her as they put her in the truck so she wouldn't be so scared. We knew this was going to make her even more fearful than she already was of new situations, and it was no surprise that she appeared fearful/aggressive to the animal control people when they got her to the&nbsp;evaluation area where they keep dogs accused of being aggressive. Who wouldn't be fearful and self-protective after being yanked out of the one and only place where she had been able to experience love and safety?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, Astrid wasn't a danger at all, and if she had been she would have been taken away by animal control immediately instead of a few days later. Even then it was only done because of the persistent bitching (no pun intended) by the guard who had it in for Astrid (and later me, since Astrid had been my dog).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, I learned from the shelter employee at her next visit that the guard had made such an issue of the "incident" that animal control had no choice but to put Astrid to sleep.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's not mince words. They killed her. They killed Astrid because she jumped on a guard in a playful manner, NOT an aggressive manner, and because the guard insisted the dog was aggressive because she didn't like the fact that the dog barked during head count.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sadness and feeling of helplessness I experienced when they took Astrid away reminds me of how I felt for Dorothy when the wicked witch took Toto away. It was so wrong, so unnecessary, and such an unfortunate loss of a perfectly wonderful animal who could have made a great watch dog and pet for some lucky dog lover if she had just been given a chance.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Astrid never had a chance.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every year around this time, I remember Astrid and think about all of the other dogs like her (including Booger) who are wrongfully misjudged as being "dangerous" or "aggressive" simply because of their breed. And, since I've had Booger, each year around this time I hold him a little bit closer, a little bit tighter, and a little bit longer when I give him a hug during our love-in sessions, and I hope that somehow, the Astrid in my memory knows that she was, is, and will always be loved every bit as much.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-32449023474367898172012-10-20T22:50:00.000-07:002012-10-21T01:22:49.538-07:00The Oppression Of Unequal Pay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've all heard the claim that "the reason women don't earn as much as men is because they don't negotiate as well". Sometimes, that's true. When it comes to contract work, independent contracting, talent-oriented jobs, and many high-end positions, it definitely accounts for much of the income disparity between female workers and their male counterparts. However, I don't think most people realize just how blatantly women are getting discriminated against in hourly wage jobs, and it has nothing to do with negotiating skills at all, because frequently there IS no negotiating in these positions. To demonstrate this, I will share a personal story with you:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I was on supervised release, I was not allowed to work in a position that required the use of a computer. (Apparently, the feds thought I was Kevin Mitnick.) As a result, there were very few jobs I could work in, given the fact that the economy made it difficult to find a job already, and felons have an even more difficult time finding jobs even in a good economy. In a bad economy, it's almost impossible, especially considering how almost every job requires the use of a computer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the two jobs I had while on supervision was as a delivery driver for a pizza delivery company. These jobs are extremely dangerous (stories are plentiful about pizza delivery drivers being robbed, assaulted, and murdered) and they don't pay much. The company I worked for does not even pay minimum wage to its drivers, since it is considered a tipped position. Of course, sometimes there were no tips, especially with a tanking economy, and by the time you paid for your gas (not paid for by the company) and wear and tear on your vehicle, the $1 per delivery (1/2 of the delivery charge the customers pay) seemed like a joke. (The company justified keeping the other $1 to cover their insurance costs - the insurance covered them if a driver got into an accident, but it didn't cover the driver that worked for them - we had to pay for our own auto insurance and assume all liability ourselves, even while on the job.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You were TOLD what you would be paid when you were hired, and it was clear that if you didn't like that, you could go look for a job elsewhere. There WAS no negotiating.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During my first week on the job, I was robbed at gunpoint on Valentine's Day night. It was a terrifying experience, but I handled it better than most probably would, and I went right back out and made more deliveries after I was finished with the police report, knowing that the sooner I got back on the horse, the more likely I would be able to overcome the fear of what had just happened.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, over the next few days I was dealing with some pretty bad post-traumatic stress issues. Getting robbed at gunpoint isn't something you take as lightly as I convinced myself I could the night that it happened, so I took a day off and then worked a couple of day shifts with the permission of the owners until I was ready to work at night again, when there are more deliveries and the tips are often a little better (and also when they actually needed me the most - you can't be choosy when you need a job).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the fact that I still experienced severe anxiety many times when making deliveries (I still, even years later, have PTSD related to the robbery) I continued doing my job. When the cowardly male drivers, many of whom were over 6 feet tall, were too frightened to deliver to the projects, or sometimes just didn't think they would make a decent tip delivering there and wanted to hold out for a delivery in a better neighborhood, my 5 foot tall, female self would get in my minivan and drive the damn pizza to the projects, honey badger style, not giving a shit and knowing that if I just kept making deliveries it would eventually even out and I might have a decent chance of having some money left over after buying gas at the end of my shift.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even my male supervisors at the pizza store commented on how brave I was... "Man, she's a 5 foot tall&nbsp;woman&nbsp;and she's not afraid to go out there, but you guys are whining about it? Man up, dude!"</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My delivery times were often faster than anyone else's, male or female. I didn't stop at a convenience mart and chat while drinking coffee like some of the other drivers did, I didn't goof off. I delivered, I answered phones, I helped make pizzas (not part of my job), and prepared other drivers' orders for them when I wasn't up for a delivery.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone seemed to acknowledge that I was one of the, if not THE, hardest worker there. I followed the rules, I minded my own business, I took up the slack for the kids smoking pot out back instead of doing their jobs, because I figured they'd have plenty of time to be serious and work their asses off later in life.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a lot of fun working there, but it wasn't always easy. Sexually inappropriate comments and behavior were rampant there, but I took it in stride, choosing to view it as a compliment that boys 20+ years younger than me were aggressively pursuing me, inappropriateness be damned.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once, there was an incident where one of the twenty-somethings actually went overboard and did something that one might consider a sexual assault. One of the witnesses was incredulous that I wasn't more upset, and he thought I should report it to the owners, but I was just trying to get through my supervised release and didn't want to rock the boat. (You are very vulnerable to a lot of injustices when you are on supervised release, and many people know that and take advantage of the situation.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite all of that, I continued working there even after I was released from supervision, mainly because it wasn't easy to find anything else. By that time, the economy had tanked so completely and college graduates weren't even able to get jobs delivering pizza, and I felt lucky to have a job at all.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until one day, I made a disturbing discovery: We were talking about how wrong it was that we got only 1/2 of the delivery fee when gas was almost $3 a gallon, and a comment was made by a couple of guys that the $5.50 per hour they were making just wasn't enough to survive on when tips were so low and gas was so high.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WHAT?!? I was only making $4.50 an hour. How the hell were these guys making $5.50 an hour? They had worked there as much as a year LESS than me, were lazy and slacked on the job constantly, and a couple of them were some of the wusses who were too afraid to deliver to the projects, so they left me to take those deliveries for them. Later that afternoon, one of the guys who let it be known he was making $5.50 an hour (who probably didn't know I wasn't making that) started taking deliveries that weren't his to take, leaving me without any deliveries in a three-hour period. I. Was. Pissed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say, that was when I decided it was time to take the plunge and try to find work as an independent contractor using my writing, programming, and web design skills. I told the general manager of the store I needed some time off, not wanting to start any drama, and I never went back to work there again.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know for sure who made the chicken shit decision to pay the hardest working person at the joint a dollar less per hour than the males who didn't work nearly as hard and were too afraid to deliver to the projects, but l can tell you that, despite the fact that I had a lot of respect for the men who owned the stores where I worked, I found their attitude toward employees to be rather condescending.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Constantly, we were all told "You should just be grateful you have a job." (I was.) When we complained about gas prices, they promised to pay us the entire $2 delivery fee instead of only half of it when gas reached $3/gallon, but at that point it seemed the oil companies all conspired with them to stay right at $2.95/gallon. :-(</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Incredibly, the owners constantly acted surprised that some of the employees were stealing from them... sometimes it was cash, sometimes it was food... stealing isn't ok, but when people are busting their asses and destroying their vehicles so they can earn less than minimum wage even WITH tips, and the attitude is that the paycheck they EARN is some kind of charity the owners are doling out to them, the understandable resentment on the part of employees gets expressed in ways that aren't very pretty.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Newsflash: Employees EARN their pay. They don't receive paychecks for staying at home or hanging out at the store. You are paying them whatever you are paying them to compensate them for their time away from their families, their effort to the point where every bone in their body aches at the end of the day, and for performing the jobs that keep your company running and (hopefully) profitable.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The attitude that many corporations and even small businesses have toward their employees is that the employees are some sort of welfare recipient, and there seems to be very little appreciation for the fact that these are the people that allow the business to function in the first place. Everyone is expendable, and nobody matters. And they wonder why their turnover rate is so high?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's even worse when one segment of the population gets marginalized and paid even less in an already-low-paying position because she doesn't have a penis, despite the fact that she works just as hard or harder and has more experience.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ONLY reason this continues in this day and age is because it is mostly secret. Employees are threatened with termination if they discuss their salaries with other employees, and it's legal to do that because most states keep employer-employee relationships at an "at-will" status, meaning you can be fired for any reason EXCEPT discrimination. Firing you for discussing your salary isn't&nbsp;discrimination, so they get away with that and nobody realizes just how rampant the problem is.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why does it matter? Because that extra $40 a week, or $160 a month, would have made the difference between whether I had to choose between paying the power bill or foregoing a doctor visit and some medication to treat musculoskeletal issues. It would've made the difference in not having to choose between buying new work shoes when they developed holes in them and filling up my gas tank.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you're making didley squat to begin with, every cent matters that much more, and the fact that I have a vagina didn't make me magically able to afford things better than a male, so why was I getting paid less?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you think I'm overstating the importance of all of this, remember that money is the vehicle that gives us the power to live the lives we choose. If some have less power to live the life they want to live than others who do the same job at the same company simply because of their genitalia, it's no different than taking away someone's right to be seen as equal at the voting polls or anywhere else.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you wouldn't make excuses for not allowing women to vote, you shouldn't make excuses for us to not be getting equal pay for the SAME JOB AT THE SAME COMPANY as those who have penises. And if you WOULD be willing to make excuses for not allowing women to vote, well, I think you'd fit in much better in a barbaric, third-world country than in America.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't vote, but I can sure share information with people, and I've managed to open some eyes during this campaign which has resulted in some people I know changing their minds about who they are voting for in favor of a more reality-based candidate.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romney and Ryan have voted AGAINST fair pay for women repeatedly. Any woman who is ok with that probably doesn't work for a living, and definitely doesn't know what it's like to struggle at the hands of a male-dominated work-force who conspire to take more for themselves at the expense of women who often work harder than they do.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm all for keeping the government out of our lives and businesses as much as possible, but when somebody is conspiring to keep me from finding out that I'm being paid less than my male counterparts, I call bullshit, and we do that by refusing to support candidates that refuse to support equality.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, for all of you who are annoyed that so many people are on food stamps, you might want to consider that a large majority of people on food stamps HAVE JOBS, but they don't get paid a living wage. Women who aren't getting paid as much as men who do the same job at the same company are more likely to need food stamps to feed their kids (since so many deadbeat dads don't take care of their responsibilities). Next time you open up you mouth to whine about how many people are on food stamps, consider your part in it if you voted for a candidate who is against equal pay for women.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got a calendar handy? It's 20-fucking-12, folks. Why are we still discriminating against women to begin with?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll tell you why. Because we have tolerated this bullshit for far too long. And, as one of my favorite quotes says: "You deserve what you tolerate."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's time to stop tolerating it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-80893477041766971922012-10-01T19:24:00.001-07:002012-10-01T19:45:06.288-07:00Fall Softly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's raining hard outside as I write this, and it's a cool rain that announces the arrival of fall loud and clear. It's always been my favorite time of year, but this year it seems even more special than in years past.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There have been some disappointments throughout the year, but that seems stellar in comparison to so many years of my life where there were major catastrophes and devastating traumas. I'm grateful for some normalcy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It looks like this is going to be one of those years where the first 3/4 of the year is taxi-ing down the runway, and the last three months are the takeoff. I'm looking forward to that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps the biggest changes that have taken place this year are internal, both literally and figuratively.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My health hasn't been that great this year, but at least I haven't suffered from the "I-wish-I-was-dead-summer-flu" that I had while moving last year. I still am not sure how I managed to survive that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've done some refining of my political views as I uncover more information and reflect on ideology vs. reality. It has made for some stimulating debate, but the more red pills you take, the more alone you feel in a world full of people who are addicted to the blue pills.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps the biggest change in me has been that I have made room in my heart for true friends and family, and have accepted that some family will never truly be family in any sense other than genetic, while some who call themselves friends are not friends in any sense of the word at all.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discernment. I'm learning it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've eliminated my tolerance for people who clearly do not care about me beyond whatever is in it for them. That's not easy, because I have a terminal sense of optimism that often deceives me into believing that people have better intentions than they often do, because my intentions tend to be good. Not everyone is like you and me. That's a hard lesson to learn.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It isn't easy to walk away from someone who treats you like a second-class citizen when there is something you feel you should be sharing with them, but sometimes it's for the best, lest they destroy that which would otherwise be shared.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've found that there is room in my life for more than I thought possible now that I have eliminated some wasted space.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If all goes well, Booger will have a new brother or sister in the not-too-distant future, and the house will be filled with even more unconditional love. I'm excited about that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe I'm just mellowing with age, but I don't feel nearly as anxious as I used to about the future. Or maybe, it's just because I'm so tired all the time. ;-)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not quite at the top of my game yet, but I'm on my way.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaves are falling softly with the rain, and I'm falling softly into place in the multiple roles life has called me to fill. Some were unexpected, but they all feel right, so I'm rolling in them like leaves and enjoying the hayride.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-11253450017027237162012-09-13T06:41:00.001-07:002012-09-13T06:41:23.581-07:00The Best Birthday I Ever Had (Was In Jail)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">September 13, 2005, my&nbsp;cell-mate&nbsp;was a bankruptcy attorney who was serving a short federal sentence for bankruptcy fraud. Her sentence was less than six months, so she didn't get sent to a prison, but was to serve out her sentence in a federally contracted detention center, in this case, a county jail.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">She had three young children, (including a set of twins) and one of them was a "special needs" child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other issues. Since she was a single mother, she was allowed to break up her sentence over two summers so that her sister could keep her kids while she was locked up and then she could be there to take care of them when school was back in session.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">She and I became very close as we got to know one another. Like many who feel the walls of despair closing in on them while confined in a drab environment, she tortured herself with despairing thoughts, including that she was a bad mother (very few who have that fear are ever actually bad mothers) and I did my best to keep her focused on the positive things she had going for her.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">She was a beautiful woman, very attractive, kind-hearted, intelligent... she was within a year of my age, and it was hard to imagine how she could end up in this situation. Of course, many people have said the same thing about me. I assure you, it can happen to anyone.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">One thing I knew was that she would be fine once she got out. She took over the jail within a few weeks, teaching everyone from accused murderers to crack addicts new card games and making it clear to them that she wasn't going to be bullied. She always had the upper hand, and I was sure she would somehow maintain it throughout the rest of her life. (I should get in touch with her and verify that she has, though there is no doubt in my mind.)</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The week before my birthday, she, knowing that I didn't have a steady source of funding with which to purchase items like shampoo and lotion from the commissary, had me make a list of items I wanted for my birthday. I was thrilled!</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">She was going to be going home in a couple of weeks, so she was planning a farewell party and also ordered about 35 Hostess cupcakes, one for every inmate in our pod. (This never happens. Ever. Nobody does this. Except Shannon.)</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So, on my birthday, we were all released from our cells for breakfast. I went about my usual routine of taking my shower afterwards and returned to one of about ten four-person tables where several of us normally played cards until it was time to be locked back down. When I got to my usual spot at the table, I got the surprise of my life. Not only was there a Hostess cupcake waiting there for me, but there was also a birthday card, (you could purchase those from the commissary list to send to loved ones) signed by everyone, and a "candle" she had somehow managed to fashion out of paper. (Keep in mind, inmates have no access to scissors.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Before I even had a chance to react, the pod of about 35 women who had just been going about their business were suddenly all turned in my direction and the room swelled with the sound of everyone singing "Happy Birthday". That's when I realized that I was experiencing my first-ever surprise birthday party. In jail.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Growing up, I had enjoyed throwing my father a surprise birthday party just a couple of years before he got sick and died. Many surprise parties had been thrown in my family, and I was always enamored with the idea of sneaking around in order to bombard someone with expressions of love and happiness. The fact that someone would go to that kind of trouble &nbsp;seemed to me to be the ultimate validation of the fact that the person being honored at such a party was deserving of love.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Like many who are in the black sheep role in their family, I struggled with feelings of unworthiness. I never thought anyone would go to that kind of trouble for me unless it was a matter of necessity, but there I was, turning 36 in jail, and experiencing the most amazing (and unexpected) surprise birthday party anyone could ever imagine, in the most unlikely of circumstances.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">My brother and I always had nice birthdays growing up. My parents went out of their way to make it special with what little resources they had, and they always succeeded. I cherish those memories, but as birthday surprises go, nothing - not even winning the lottery on my birthday - could ever compare to what Shannon, a friend I had known for only a brief time, did for me. It really is true that it's the thought that counts, and the thought she put in will count for the rest of my life.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So there you have it, horrific, wonderful, and bizarre all rolled into one bittersweet, delicious experience with a paper candle on top. I challenge you to beat that combination in a true story. I just don't think it can be done.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-32620518495809096592012-08-28T05:25:00.000-07:002012-08-28T05:25:09.490-07:00The Misogynistic Surge Of 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the history of humanity, misogyny has been an oppressive force against women. We've made some progress, but perhaps not as much as we would like to believe.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most obvious evidence can be seen in recent comments made by many politicians of the right-wing variety and the more than 600 bills they have introduced in an attempt to take away a woman's right to control her body. Of course, there is also rape, the glass ceiling, inequities in pay between women and their male counterparts, and so on.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There seems to be a surge in misogynistic behavior in some of the most primitive males of the human species. Like a virus before it finally dies out, succumbing to the immune system of its host, there is a surge of feverish activity in a desperate attempt to continue its survival.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, there is a less-obvious (and perhaps more insidious) source of oppressive behavior towards women by males that often gets overlooked, one that I have personally experienced with increased frequency over the past few years.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It goes something like this:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A woman has males with whom she interacts either in person or online who are casual acquaintances. Sometimes they are old classmates, others may be past or present work associates,&nbsp;friends of friends, or acquaintances from a variety of other sources.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As it goes between most humans, there are shared views regarding economics, politics, and religion, along with differing views regarding same.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything is fine until the differences become evident in a debate, and this is where things go south very quickly in a way that rarely occurs between two males or two females:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The male makes statements regarding his views, and the female counters with her own (or vice versa). There is an exchange between the two, but in cases where the female is just as persistent in defending her view as the male is in defending his (especially where the female is providing logic based on facts and the male is relying more on assumptions and an emotional attachment to his own views) the female becomes the enemy, and civility becomes something the male seems incapable of exercising.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have seen this quite frequently here in "The Bible Belt" where I spend much of my time, but I have also seen it elsewhere. The message seems quite clear: "You're allowed to have different views than me, but you are not allowed to challenge my statements regarding mine, especially when I have not based them on sound information. My male ego is so fragile that I will make you my enemy if you point out logical fallacies, factual inaccuracies, or other information that shows my assumptions and statements to be in error."</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A woman can be perfectly civil and never raise her voice or engage in rude behavior, but many men seem to think it is their right to be "right", even when they are wrong, and begin to personally attack the female with whom they are engaged in conversation when her challenge to his logic is as persistent as his refusal to be confronted with factual information to the contrary.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there, we see ad hominem attacks, anecdotal fallacies, red herrings, and other pathetic attempts to distract the opponent (and perhaps themselves) from the fact that they are losing ground in the argument, debate, or discussion:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ad hominem attack: an attempt to deflect an argument by inferring or outright claiming something derogatory (and unrelated to the discussion) about your&nbsp;opponent</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">anecdotal fallacy: unverified stories given as "evidence"</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">red herring: an attempt to deflect an argument by bringing up something else, but usually only after the one committing this act has had a chance to state their case, leaving the other party without the opportunity to do the same</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />If you're lucky, you learn that this is someone unworthy of your time and you simply stop associating with him. However, it doesn't always work out so smoothly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are some males who become so riled by the fact that a woman dares oppose him as persistently as he has opposed her that his ire doesn't end with her attempting to distance herself from him, and he aggressively pursues her with behavior that may range from bullying to stalking, either online, in person, or both.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbullying" target="_blank">cyber-bullying</a>, which has now been classified as a crime, usually involves making statements about the victim which are either false or unsubstantiated, and/or badgering the victim by repeatedly making derogatory statements about her publicly, either addressed to her directly or referencing her on social media platforms or other electronic means.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberstalking" target="_blank">cyber-stalking</a>, also classified as a crime,&nbsp;often involves harassing or hunting her down online (finding as many ways to contact her as possible, including multiple social media venues, blogs, etc.) and sometimes even involves attempts to hack into her accounts and disrupt her ability to use them and/or commit crimes using them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In some cases, the stalking becomes physical and the victim is physically hunted in an attempt to intimidate or terrorize her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have several friends in law enforcement who have witnessed some of this behavior toward me from males over the past couple of years and have expressed concern. There have been reports made in some cases and in others, I simply didn't feel it was warranted.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nonetheless, it is a frustrating state of affairs at best, and a reminder of just how hostile the world still is toward women (especially intelligent, articulate women who do not cow down to arrogant, unsubstantiated proclamations made by emotionally immature males).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have heard many stories from other intellectual women who hold their own well with their male counterparts, and it wasn't until I heard from so many others that I&nbsp;realized this wasn't just something resulting from my own refusal to back down from a few bullies, but a widespread attitude and set of behaviors from many men who, now that rape and physical&nbsp;assault are not options they can easily get away with, have learned to find other ways to make themselves feel powerful at the expense of women.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately, there are many males who are not like this. I am very grateful to have many of them in my life, which only makes the less-evolved males stand out even more as the <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/troglodyte" target="_blank">troglodytes</a> that they are.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, my warning to all women is: don't get so distracted by the idiotic statements of GOP members on television that you fail to notice when someone right in front of you is engaging in the subtle behavior of undermining you psychologically. They may not be able to pass laws in an attempt to control your body, but they are desperately seeking to take up the same amount of space in your mind that they apparently have&nbsp;allotted&nbsp;in their own minds (such as they are) for you.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evict them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-9958139803373351462012-08-20T03:08:00.000-07:002012-08-20T05:51:25.873-07:00Raping Your Wife: It's not nearly as bad as smoking pot. (According to Todd Akin)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier this year, I <a href="http://angiemaxsays.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&amp;updated-max=2012-02-01T00:00:00-08:00&amp;max-results=2" target="_blank">blogged</a> about the scientifically and medically illiterate Stacey Campfield and his ignorant statements about H.I.V. and A.I.D.S. regarding how it spreads and who can and (allegedly) can not get it. (Anyone can get it.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, it's time for yet another blog post about another politician who is even more scientifically and medically ignorant than Stacey Campfield. (Who knew THAT was possible?) I'm referring to Republican Todd Akin, who represents Missouri's 2nd Congressional District.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the record, his statement was, when asked if he would support abortions for women who have been raped:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It seems to me first of all from what I understand from doctors that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Continuing with this blog post required a short break where I had to get a drink of water, as the cognitive dissonance created from typing that quote dehydrated my brain severely, and&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm pretty sure the "doctors" he was referring to must have a Ph.D. in voodoo.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He also said that he would prefer that punishment for rape be focused on the rapist and not "attacking the child".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of reproduction knows that a fertilized egg and/or a developing fetus is not a "child". Using the word "child" to describe any pregnancy is nothing more than political and/or religious rhetoric stemming from the fear-reactive area of the brain known as the amygdala which, despite its primitive nature, continues to override common sense in many who do not recognize that the only real reason why they do not like the idea of abortion is that they are wired to favor reproduction of the human species for survival purposes.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any other claimed reasoning for why there is any concern for the developing fetus is nothing more than a rationalization of an involuntary reaction caused by the way the human brain is wired. That includes religious rationalizations, humanistic rationalizations, or any other reason given by those professing concern for a fetus.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the fact that there is no reason for us to fear that our species will not survive if everyone does not reproduce abundantly, the instinct to bring forth spawn is so strong that our species is obsessed with the activity that brings it about (sex) to the point where it almost seems to override any of our other basic needs, including sustenance. (Don't believe me? Ask any teenage boy to choose between eating for a week and having sex, either with another human or via masturbation.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The instinct to give birth upon becoming pregnant is so strong in some of us that even I believe that if I were gang-raped and became pregnant with quadruplets, knowing that it would likely kill me to carry the pregnancy to term, I still do not think that I could bring myself to have an abortion. The unnecessary instinct for survival via reproduction really is that strong in me.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily, having an above-average understanding of both science in general and medicine specifically, my logical and critical thinking skills are able to override my primitive survival instincts when it comes to respecting the boundaries of other people's bodies.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are a few facts which, once understood, help intelligent people to achieve the necessary objectivity in order to behave less like a primitive human and more like an intelligent human regarding this issue:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no "certificate of conception" or "certificate of pregnancy" issued during a pregnancy because fetuses are not persons.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no death certificate issued after a miscarriage, because fetuses are not persons.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 pregnancies usually ends in miscarriage, often before the woman realizes she is pregnant. This means that a pregnancy does not necessarily indicate a viable potential for human life.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Claiming that the potential for development into a human life equals a "child" is the same thing as saying that an egg and a sperm which have not even been joined and are not even in the same body is a "child". It isn't. Potential does not equal existence.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not planting a seed for a tree is not the same thing as cutting a tree down, and not allowing a fetus to develop into a viable human being is not the same thing as killing a person.</span></li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that we have addressed the ridiculous statement that a "child" is being "punished" if a woman chooses not to allow a blob of cells to remain in her body, let's move on to the next point:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only thing the female body can do to "shut that whole thing down" if she's raped and does not want to give birth as a result of that rape is walk into an abortion clinic and exercise her right to remove the cells which she does not wish to keep in her uterus. (An alternative would be for the female body to walk into a drug store and request a "morning after" pill.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's the ONLY thing the female body can do to "shut that whole thing down". There are no magical powers contained in the uterus or the vagina that suck an egg back into the ovary once it has been released during ovulation. There is no spermicide that is released that kills only the sperm that ejaculate from a rapist's penis.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had to address the statements made by this arrogantly ignorant politician, simply because to not do so would be irresponsible just in case there might be others who have not been properly educated about these proven facts of life. However, this is not the most important point of this blog post.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Also, I'd like to pause for a moment and recognize that many women who have been raped have experienced flashbacks triggered by these arrogantly ignorant comments spewed forth from the pie hole of Todd Akin, and if you need help, I recommend visiting <a href="http://rainn.org/">rainn.org</a>.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most disturbing thing isn't that there are people who don't understand these basic facts even after living in this country for 65 years and having access to every conceivable (no pun intended) necessary resource available at any public library which would allow them to know better.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most disturbing thing isn't even that this same man thinks that it's a bad idea to criminalize raping your wife, as he claims it becomes a "legal weapon to beat up on the husband" during divorce proceedings. (He wouldn't vote to de-criminalize the use of marijuana, but he would vote to de-criminalize a man raping his wife. Note: This is the year 2012 and this is a Christian man who lives in America, not a Muslim living in Afghanistan.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most disturbing thing is that this man (if we can call him that... personally, I think "beast" would be more appropriate) holds public office with a considerable amount of power and authority attached to it, and was put there by American citizens who likely did not even know that he had these views.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Say what you want about "the media". Bitch about how inaccurate it often is, whine about how some things get way too much attention and others not enough, display your intellectual snobbery by claiming that anyone who pays attention to anything the media puts out is naive and "drinking the Kool-Aid", but do NOT tell me that the media always gets it wrong, and do not tell me that being able to watch the words come out of this idiot's mouth is not CRITICALLY important when it comes to understanding who exactly is in power in this country and why they shouldn't be there.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I propose that, in a country that requires any non-citizen wishing to become a citizen to pass a test showing a basic knowledge of this country and how it works which surpasses what even the average American-born citizen knows, we require that ANY political candidate pass a basic high school level science proficiency exam, including a test proving a basic understanding of sexual reproductive science and biology.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you wonder how it is possible that any politician is against sex education in the classroom, including sex education and safe sex methods for both heterosexuals and homosexuals, it's only possible because they themselves do not have such knowledge, and therefore can not comprehend its importance.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of us, however, know better, and if we don't start demanding that the people we pay to represent us in making policy in this country know what every high school student is required to know before walking across the stage to receive their diploma, we deserve whatever unpleasant results these ignorant people bring to our existence.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And to those who think it doesn't matter who they vote for or are considering not voting or voting for a candidate with no chance of winning because they can't decide which candidate they dislike and/or disagree with the most, understand that you are tolerating extreme ignorance in the leadership of your country by passively allowing it to continue, and you'll have no valid complaint about how unhappy you are with the state of our affairs if you make no effort to help bring about an outcome that promotes reason over superstition.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a wise person once said:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You deserve what you tolerate.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you deserve to be represented by people who have less than a sixth-grade level understanding of reproductive science? Do you deserve to be represented by someone who thinks it's worse to smoke marijuana than it is to rape your own wife?</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vote accordingly.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-91800578885569520272012-08-18T03:20:00.000-07:002012-08-18T03:35:00.101-07:00When I Was A Christian...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before anyone who reads this decides that this is "just another post from the atheist point of view" or that it's about me being "against religion", you need to know that I felt EXACTLY THE SAME WAY about the topic I am about to discuss when I was a devout Christian as I do now. EXACTLY. THE. SAME.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was a teenager, I was called to give sermons to the SOUTHERN BAPTIST congregation where I was a member in Ringgold, GA MORE THAN ONCE. I remember one of my sermons dealt with what message we sent as Christians with our behavior, and I posed the question: "If someone who knew nothing about Christianity observed us in our daily lives, what would they learn about being a Christian from us? What would be their understanding of what it means to be a Christian?"</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am now going to answer that question.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If *I* knew nothing about Christianity and were observing many Christians today, my impression of Christianity would be that it is mainly about making sure we made a huge show about praying in public before football games, before school started, and at government functions and political events. Also: a lot of whining about the fact that not everyone gives a Christian-specific greeting during seasonal holidays, even though most Christian holidays have pagan origins...</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forget the fact that the Christian holy book makes it VERY CLEAR that making a big show of praying in public is NOT what Christianity is about:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. (6) But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (7) And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. (8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. – Matthew 6.5-8 NASB</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Christian holy book ALSO makes it very clear that mindlessly reciting prayers by rote is not meaningful Christian behavior, and yet that is exactly what goes on when "The Lord's Prayer" is recited at public events as some sort of obligatory ritual.</span><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #001320; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="22" cellspacing="0" class="mainbk" style="background-color: #b9e3ff; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td class="bluebk3" style="background-color: #f9fdff; background-image: url(http://bible.cc/lline.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat repeat;" width="98%"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td class="btext" colspan="2" height="20" style="color: #001320; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen&nbsp;<i>do</i>: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. - Matthew 6:7 KJV</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's quite clear that both of the foundations on which all of this noise is being made about prayer before football games is based are discouraged in the Christian holy book. How ironic.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But perhaps the most sad aspect of this drama is that it sends the wrong message not only to non-Christians, who increasingly view Christians as political invaders who wish to force their religion on everyone else, but also to our children.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When your government denies you special privileges when you demand that they treat your religion as though it is the "official" religion of this country (which we do not have, since our forefathers, in their wisdom, made it clear that we were NOT to make an establishment of religion in our government), when they deny your request for special recognition over all of the HUNDREDS OF OTHER RELIGIONS practiced in this country, and you then behave by claiming that you are persecuted, you are teaching children to take on an attitude of entitlement... you are teaching them that if they do not get special treatment as Christians, they are somehow victims.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is where bigotry begins, folks. It starts with indulging in the delusional behavior that not getting special privileges equals persecution, and it progresses to believing that you are superior because of your beliefs, and/or that your beliefs are superior to those of others.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From there, the attitude grows into the view that other religions are not only NOT entitled to the special privileges that you fancy YOURSELF to be entitled to, but that they are LESS entitled to EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why Christians who view marriage between two people of the same sex as PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE (the same way many anti-gay-marriage Christians are FINE with eating shrimp, also listed as an abomination in the Christian holy book) are upset that some Christians are attempting to step on THEIR toes by disallowing THEM to legally marry gay couples in their churches.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, even worse, the massive efforts and grandstanding that goes into "fighting for prayer" at football games, schools, and government assemblies does absolutely NOTHING to advance the cause of Christianity. In fact, it diminishes its true purpose and everything that it is supposed to stand for, which is practicing kindness and respect toward others, remaining humble in the expression and practice of your faith, (as opposed to loudly demanding that everyone wait while and take notice as you do so publicly) and helping those who are homeless, hungry, naked, and sick.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only thing that comes from praying before these events is self-satisfaction of the Christian ego.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, if the same people who are congratulating themselves for "coming together" as Christians from multiple denominations with the common goal of making a huge drama out of praying before a football game were also putting the same amount of effort into collecting food for the homeless at said football games, it might not be such a vulgar display of selfishness on their part to demand that everyone wait while they recite a rote prayer before the game.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no problem with anyone who wants to pray anytime or anywhere, so long as they don't whine about not being allowed to do it over a loud speaker as part of an officially mandated activity on government or taxpayer-owned/funded property. I do, however, find it very sad that so many Christians show such a lack of respect for their own religion by ignoring the truly important aspects of practicing it in favor of superficial shows of power before football games.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel that way now, and I felt that way when I was a Christian.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, being an atheist hasn't changed me. It has merely revealed that my ability to tell right from wrong does not stem from religion, but comes from common sense which we all have the ability to exercise, if only we will shed the ego and focus on what really matters.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-91438388351230776852012-08-12T02:54:00.001-07:002012-08-12T02:54:51.570-07:00The Lesser of Evils<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a Twitter friend whom I once viewed as a wise person. Lately, many of our mutual friends have begun to wonder what's happened to him, as he seems to have lost all perspective and logical capabilities, and has begun sounding more like a schizophrenic than someone espousing wisdom.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was discussing the fact that, if I could vote, given the inevitability that either Obama or Romney will end up in office (barring something extremely unexpected taking place), I would choose Obama. When asked why, I cited the fact that, even though I do not agree with much of Obama's economic policy, I view human rights issues as a priority over the economy. After all, without human rights, no economic policy will be of much help to any of us.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's when "Mr. T.", as I'll call him, broke in with a mostly incoherent diatribe on why Obama isn't worthy of being credited with having human rights as a priority, because he's a "mass murderer just like all the others" (including Romney).</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently, he's calling Obama a mass murderer because of the ongoing wars and additional potential warfare we are facing. While I do not agree with the general consensus that it is our country's responsibility to police the world, I think most reasonable people agree that it's a stretch to call it "mass murder". Death and destruction is an inevitability in any war, but murder is something one intentionally carries out as a goal, not something that comes with the territory of waging a war against a country based on a perceived threat (however misperceived) or any other basis.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr. T. proceeded to say that both Obama and Romney are mass murderers, and that I was "crazy" for saying that it made sense to vote for EITHER of them, and that supporting either of them was me condoning mass murder.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In an attempt to bring reason into the conversation, I laid it out like this:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If both candidates are equally guilty of mass murder, and it is inevitable that one of them will end up in office, it makes sense to choose the candidate that will bring less restriction of freedom. I can't control either candidate's decision on warfare or "mass murder", but if I am forced to choose only between two "mass murderers", I choose the one who is for marriage equality and doesn't think he owns my vagina.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He made several pathetic attempts to ridicule me for that statement, calling me selfish and claiming that I think my vagina is more important than the innocent lives of children whom he is accusing Obama of (apparently intentionally) killing. His logical fallacy is quite glaring to me, but to him, it's the most perfect logic ever known to humanity.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it's important to mention that there is no evidence whatsoever that Obama (or even Romney, for that matter) intends to murder innocent children. Do innocent children die in a war? Unfortunately, yes. To stretch and distort that into intentionally murdering them is not only inaccurate, it shows a lack of clarity and a very distorted thinking process.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, just for the sake of argument, let's say that he's right and that both Romney and Obama are mass murderers. I don't agree, but let's just pretend for a moment that it's true.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He repeatedly claimed that voting for someone who is a "mass murderer" simply because they have other policies that I agree with somehow makes me a party to said "mass murder". That would be true if there were only ONE candidate guilty of mass murder and I chose the mass murderer based on my priority of wanting them to keep the hell out of my genitalia. However, if both parties are equally guilty of being mass murderers, and one of those two is guaranteed to end up in office, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that it makes sense to go for the lesser of two evils.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Penn Jillette, someone who is good at coming up with great sound bytes that promote critical thinking, has been quoted many times as saying "If you vote for the lesser of two evils, you end up with more evil."</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The glaring logical fallacy there is that voting for LESS evil vs. MORE evil somehow creates more evil. It doesn't. Yes, you'll continue to have evil, but you'll have less evil than you would otherwise have had if you voted for the greater quantity of evil over the lesser quantity of evil. The quote makes the assumption that there is at least one viable alternative to the two evils, and at this point in the campaign, there just isn't. Fan or not, that quote is just nonsense.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ironically, Mr. T. is not a fan of Penn's, perhaps even an enemy, but seems to be saying the exact same thing in accusing me of being "crazy" for saying it makes sense to vote for the lesser of two evils. Somehow in his eyes, me voting for a candidate whom he views to be a mass murderer is the same thing as promoting mass murder. It's not... not unless there is a candidate who stands a chance to make it into the White House who is NOT a mass murderer and I pass them up in favor of my own civil liberties over the lives of innocent children.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a fantasy world, things might be that simple. In the real world, we are almost always faced with voting for a candidate based on prioritized issues, since there will rarely ever be a candidate with whom we are in complete agreement on everything.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When bills get passed in Congress, there are always undesirable things embedded in them that we'd rather not pass. We aren't voting to pass those undesirable things simply because we view other things as important enough to pass despite the accompanying undesirables embedded within the bill.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Likewise, when I condone voting for a candidate who stands for marriage equality and women's rights over one who is the polar opposite, that in no way requires me to condone other political views or behaviors of those candidates.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we follow the suggestion that we shouldn't vote at all unless there is a candidate we agree with 100% on everything, then we don't ever vote, and the few control who ends up in office. We still end up with one of two main candidates in office, but we have no say in whether the lesser or greater evils of the two reigns. That's asinine.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Mr. T., this view means I am insane. If that's the case, then I'm fine with being insane. Insanity is better than indulging in the foolishness of logical fallacy and hyperbole at the expense of what little influence we taxpayers have. I'll take my crazy ass insane opinion that we should vote for the lesser of two evils over the idea that we should passively allow the worse of two evils to take office just to play make believe that we are better people for "not voting for someone who is guilty of (fill in the blank here)" any day.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All things being equal, if Hitler # 1 wants to kill off entire segments of the population AND control your genitalia, and Hitler # 2 wants to kill off entire segments of the population but does NOT want control of your genitalia, logic dictates that you're a fool for not at least trying to prevent having BOTH evils inflicted on the populace. That doesn't make mass murder ok, and it doesn't mean you are condoning it. It simply means you are trying to avoid that evil which you may have SOME control over.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, I know. That's just fucking insane. We should all just sit passively by and hope that not voting for either inevitable candidate somehow works out for the best, because it's so much better to pretend we have the moral high ground for never voting for anyone with whom we are not 100% in agreement.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somebody get me a straight jacket.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-21248448349846985802012-07-29T17:39:00.002-07:002012-07-29T17:39:25.120-07:00Blast From The Past - Beware of Bigots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of you who follow my blogs know that my father, who died of brain cancer at age 38, was bi-sexual with a tendency toward being attracted to men more than women.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was a public school music teacher in the 80's, and most people had some idea that he might not be heterosexual. And yet, it just wasn't safe to come out back then... not that it's much safer now more than 20 years later.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I miss my father and would give anything to have him alive today. Still, there's a part of me that is glad he isn't around to see just how poorly things have developed.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, there's been progress made, but when fast-food restaurants owned by religious groups are donating millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations that exist solely to restrict the freedoms of those in the GLBT category, we can't be very proud of who we are as humans just yet.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have quite a few former classmates from grade school who are religious zealots. They do not question where their religious holy book came from or whether it makes sense to blindly believe what it says (or what they are told that what someone else thinks it says means). It's bad enough that when they are part of any debate, they constantly cite their "Holy Bible" as why "being gay is wrong". (Forget that they are cherry-picking and ignoring the fact that working on the sabbath is listed as a sin that one should be killed for right next to "lying with a man as you would with a woman"...) but what they don't seem to understand is that their view that "being gay is wrong" does not entitle them to make decisions on what types of legal contracts they are allowed to enter into, and what our government should be allowed to call those contracts.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The idea that any religion should have a say in public policy is about as un-American as it gets. And yet, there are people who not only believe that their religious views give them the right to restrict the freedoms of others who do not share their views, they actually come up with some rather bizarre reasons why two people of the same sex should not be able to use the word "marriage" in their legally binding, non-religious, civil marriage contract.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(FYI: Marriage dates back more than 4,000 years, and there is evidence of homosexual marriage that far back as well. This means that Christians did not invent marriage, nor do they own the monopoly on the word.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Covenant is another word that is used by both governments and religions. That doesn't mean that one has the authority to dictate how the other must define it.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a social network debate with one of said religious zealots from my grade school years, I challenged his views. His response? That I just don't understand, and that the reason why gay people should not be legally allowed to marry is that it "forces him to redefine his view of &nbsp;marriage".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No. It doesn't. He is still free to view marriage however he so chooses. How others view it, including how the law views it for the purposes of legal marriage contracts, does not have the power to force him to change his definition of the word at all.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To say otherwise would be like saying that the military practice of bringing back the remains of dead, non-Islamic soldiers in airplanes should not be allowed because it forces Islamic military people to redefine their definition of proper burial practices. No. It doesn't. Islamic people are still perfectly capable of maintaining their own burial practices, and my classmate is still perfectly capable of maintaining his view of marriage.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He then went on to tell me that even if he is able to maintain his definition of marriage, it is "offensive" to him because "the Christian view of marriage does not include gay marriage" and that it is therefore "stepping on his toes" and "forcing it on him" to allow gay people to enter into civil marriage contracts.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Really? How is allowing OTHER people who do NOT SHARE YOUR RELIGIOUS WORLD VIEW to enter into legally binding, civil marriage contacts, "forcing gay marriage" on anyone? No one is forcing you to get "gay married". They are simply not allowing you to control whether other people who are gay can enter into civil marriage contracts.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When these types of zealots realize that they've lost that debate, they then turn to insisting that gay couples should be relegated to having *their* civil marriage contracts be called "civil unions". The reason why that doesn't make sense is that the legally recognized form of marriage in the U.S. since the 1800's is already a civil union and has absolutely nothing to do with religion. (This is why getting married in a church does not make you legally married unless you have a civil marriage license from the courthouse. It is also why you can be legally married without a church wedding at all.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why should the same exact thing have two different names dependent on the sex of the parties to the contract? Should we start calling business partnerships that include gay people or same-sex business partners "civil business unions" instead of partnerships? It's absurd. It's neurotic. It's also un-American to single out a segment of the population to be treated differently under the law. Separating personal civil commitment contracts into two different names based on sexual orientation is no different than having separate schools or separate bathrooms for people of different races. If you wouldn't tolerate one, you shouldn't tolerate the other.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My classmate began to get extremely irritated with me as I continued to point out his logical fallacies, evening using "f-ing" at some point. (I'm always amused at how people think that leaving a few letters out makes a word any less profane, and really see no problem with profanity anyway when used as an exclamation point in a conversation, which is why it exists in the first place.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then pointed out to him that there are MANY CHRISTIAN SECTS that do NOT share his views and that they even perform marriages IN THEIR CHURCH. Why doesn't he have a problem with that? He can't force them to change, because their religion is protected under the law, just like the rights of gay people to enter into legally binding marriage contracts should be and increasingly is, as people evolve out of their bigotry and recognize that religion does not have the authority to dictate the civil rights of anyone.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He didn't have a response for that. Instead, he just kept on ranting about how offensive it was to him and "Christians" in general.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I pointed out that even the Episcopal church now recognizes gay married couples and even performs blessings on same-sex couples. They are Christians, too. I'm quite certain that they would be offended by any Southern Baptist's assertion that they should not be allowed to do that because Southern Baptist's find that "offensive".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My point is to demonstrate that anyone who attempts to restrict the freedoms of groups of people whom they do not view as obedient to their religion or even their version of any particular religion are, by nature, so self-centered that they actually believe THEIR rights are being infringed upon because they are not allowed to infringe upon the rights of OTHERS.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have many Christian friends (including other former classmates) who are just as disgusted with this attitude from so many religionists as I am. It's disturbing that anyone could be so out of touch with American values of freedom (including religious freedom of those who do not agree with YOUR brand of religion) that they would resort to whining that their rights are lessened by allowing others to have the same rights that they enjoy.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think what disturbed me most about learning of my former classmate's views was that I had always viewed him as an intelligent person capable of sound logical thinking skills.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, as I remember back to our high school years, I recall a rather selfish move on his part that was very hurtful to me and which should have lessened my level of shock at his ability to let selfishness overrule decency and logic even as an adult.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You see, we dated for a short time one summer, and after school started back he informed me one day that he no longer wished to be involved with me. When I asked him why, he told me point blank that "I really like you, but I don't want the other kids to make fun of me for dating you."</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was not very popular back then. I was a nerd (still am) and kind of quiet (am not still quiet, at least not when confronted with something that needs a good dose of critical thinking skills and logic). I was very much an outcast. My mother was out of the picture at that time and, despite having a bi/gay dad, my fashion sense was awful and nobody was able to show me how to pull myself together. Many kids shunned me because I didn't know how to dress very well (still don't) and I was awkward, and then there were the bullies who gave me a hard time because Dad, whom they knew from having him as a music teacher, was gay. (Yep. Kids have a way of knowing things that adults either don't know or pretend not to know.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bigot is a word that many people who are accurately described by it find extremely offensive. They don't seem to understand that it applies to anyone who believes a segment of the population should be treated differently than them or have less freedom than they enjoy. It's not a nice word because it describes nasty behavior. I have no qualms about using the word when confronting people who have that attitude, because they need to understand that, while they have the right to have those attitudes, there are social consequences for holding on to them.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can respect that people have different views than I do. I don't have to respect them for having those views, nor do I have to tolerate them attempting to restrict the freedoms of those with whom they disagree.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's telling about the people who try to do those sorts of things, is that they pick only those things listed in their holy books as "abominations" that personally offend them, while ignoring other things that are listed as abominations that they themselves do on a regular basis (like wearing clothing of mixed fabrics, eating shrimp and lobster and other shellfish, and working on the sabbath, if they can even agree with one another on what day actually IS the sabbath). That is the perfect example of a hypocrite, and the word "bigotry" actually evolved from the French word "hypocrite".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone who would break up with me to avoid being made fun of by other kids would have such a selfish attitude toward gay people and others who do not share his religious views as an adult, but I suppose the pollyanna in me had just assumed he'd grown out of it.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, some things never change.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-66074360769058325702012-05-29T12:28:00.002-07:002012-05-29T12:29:37.939-07:00The Religion of Alternative Health Cults<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have some friends who work in the medical field with whom I have shared a table with in think tanks in the past. Several of them have enlisted my help recently in writing material to help dispel dangerous myths about various alternative health cults and fads that have seriously sickened some of their patients. It came up in conversation over the weekend about what the cause of such misinformation gaining popularity might be, and I believe I may have some helpful insights to share.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To a medical doctor who clearly understands the basic scientific principles involved in an issue, it can be easy to forget that the average person has no benchmark (or, at best, a very weak one) by which to judge information (or even the source thereof) which tells them they can cure themselves by some of the most bizarre means imaginable.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As one who suffers from chronic health problems myself, I have endured an endless barrage of people for the past couple of decades telling me that everything from eating ground-up cockroaches to drinking urine will "cure" what ails me, even before I had a diagnosis. (These people often think a diagnosis is unimportant and claim that all symptoms stem from the same "imbalances" which whatever they are promoting will remedy.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have a world full of chronically ill people who are very sick, experiencing chronic pain, and terribly frightened. These people struggle to function on a daily basis and they often feel alienated by their health care providers who either condescend to them or speak in a language they do not understand. Some doctors are good at finding that middle ground, where they don't insult the intelligence of their patient but keep things understandable enough that it doesn't require an advanced degree to comprehend what they are saying, but many medical professionals who work with the public simply haven't mastered that skill.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am convinced that when people feel powerless, they are willing to accept anything that gives them a feeling of control... Someone sells them an idea that claims to have "inside information" that the vast majority of the rest of the population doesn't have, and they will accept it, even though it flies in the face of everything science and medicine has worked so hard to achieve, even if it puts the life and health of themselves or others in jeopardy.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This misinformation is indistinguishable to them from that which is actually true, and the feeling of power in possibly having "secret" or "little known" information is so intoxicating to those who are suffering with a malady that medical science has not yet been able to cure (or even adequately treat), that it becomes much like a religion to them. That they are willing to isolate and/or insulate themselves from anyone who disagrees with them, shunning anyone who voices any dispute or labeling them as "argumentative" for persisting in discussing facts as strongly as the cultist is persisting in declaring false information only bolsters this view of the cultist as irrational, if not mentally unstable.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's not to say that there aren't some safe, effective alternative health options out there. There are. However, they can easily be distinguished from the dangerous diet/health/lifestyle cults by the fact that they actually encourage you to discuss the matter with your health care provider before incorporating any of them into your treatment plan rather than accusing anyone who questions their authority or validity of being "out to get them" because they are "a threat to mainstream science or large corporate interests".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As in religion, where anyone who disputes "the gospel" is said to be working for "the devil", in conspiracy theory camps and various cults promoting dangerous health care options, anyone who disagrees is said to be part of a conspiracy or has become the victim of one.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both examples are elements in our world that hinder intelligent thought and progress toward solutions for the problems we face.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, as anyone who has ever encountered an irrational cure-all cultist will tell you, cultists don't just question mainstream science, they attempt to invalidate it entirely in the minds of those they are attempting to win over, lest their claims be revealed under its scrutiny as being false.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Questioning mainstream science is fine. In fact, it's encouraged, which is why mainstream science will always be superior to pseudo-scientific cults, because mainstream science is always willing to back up claims with evidence... actual evidence from double-blind, detailed studies reviewed by their peers, not general stabs in the dark which merely appear to suggest something and are then reported as fact and repeated by fellow cultists.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is plenty of information available to clearly reveal any dangerous information being promoted as bunk. Whether anyone bothers to read such information when they are told by the illusionary wizard selling them snake oil "do not pay attention to the man behind the curtain" is another matter...</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-20709079024060013362012-04-24T04:39:00.001-07:002012-04-24T05:12:58.840-07:00God Read An Atheist Blog Post, And He Liked It!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9l4xRdEhCho/T5aYcq6SbQI/AAAAAAAAAC0/sUZyimiJTl4/s1600/YoGod!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9l4xRdEhCho/T5aYcq6SbQI/AAAAAAAAAC0/sUZyimiJTl4/s320/YoGod!.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After yesterday's unexpected flood of visitors to my blog I received many e-mails and comments. I'm happy to report that most of them were from people who had rather thoughtful things to share, even if some of them were the same, tired arguments we atheists have heard (and successfully refuted) time and again from religionists (and sometime agnostics) who are unable to think their way out of the mental maze they seem to be trapped in.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Atheism is a religion." (Nope. It's simply a lack of belief based on the failure of anyone to make believing in invisible deities make any more sense than believing in the hallucinations of mental patients who also believe what they are telling you is true.) Atheism is a religion like "off" is a television channel.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It takes a lot of faith not to believe in a god." Nope. Just a knife called "critical thinking" to cut through the bullshit. (And maybe some rudimentary science knowledge to bust up the myth that without a god nothing could exist.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, there was one woman who mentioned something that was at least somewhat unique: she expressed disgust at the fact that I was bringing up all of the horrible things that had happened more than a century ago to non-believers at the hands of religionists as though they were still relevant today, and cited that as a reason why she found no value in my blog post. "These things aren't happening today. They have nothing to do with modern-day believers."</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, let me tell you why this woman, like so many other religionists, is wrong.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of the things that were happening to non-believers at the hands of religionists more than a century ago <i><b>are</b></i> still happening today.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mentioned the high school student here in Tennessee who was prevented from having her article included in the school newspaper because it promoted atheism.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I cited the fact that, even in the year 2012, the Boy Scouts of America does not allow atheists (or homosexuals) to hold positions of leadership in their organization, as though we are second-class citizens or incapable of serving as positive role-models, as though we are without morals. (Too bad there isn't a "critical thinking" badge Boy Scouts can earn.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teachers keep their atheism "in the closet" because they know it just isn't good for their career if the parents of their predominantly religious students start wondering if that atheist teacher is going to dismember their child and cannibalize him for lunch one day...</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, atheists are persecuted by religious folk even today. The fact that it happens so often and religionists seem to think it no longer occurs is rather curious, given the fact that persecution of atheists by the religious seems to be escalating now that it has become politically incorrect to persecute those who are members of different religions than your own.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's become safer than ever to practice a religion different than the dominant religion in any given area in the United States, but we atheists are clearly taking up the slack... it seems that many religionists are now directing their persecution efforts toward non-believers more than ever. The message is clear: "You don't have to believe in the same thing we do, but you'd better believe in <i><b>something&nbsp;</b></i>that requires your brain to shut down, because we don't tolerate critical thinking 'round here."</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They may not be burning us at the stake again quite yet, but we are starting to see some of the same fires of persecution rekindling that even most religionists thought had been burnt out for good long ago. We atheists know better, and if there were an all-knowing god, it would too.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kfX4TBkynaE/T5aNeS8jmQI/AAAAAAAAACs/OPdnMbw3Qfg/s1600/YoGod!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kfX4TBkynaE/T5aNeS8jmQI/AAAAAAAAACs/OPdnMbw3Qfg/s320/YoGod!.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-65158034958709641202012-04-23T02:58:00.000-07:002012-04-23T04:36:04.075-07:00Why I Live In The Bible Belt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, it's Sunday night and I've just dropped Pam off after watching a movie ("Lock Out") which was so boring to me that I spent more time talking to Pam and getting pretend married to her on Facebook than I did watching the actual movie. (We had the entire theater to ourselves, stadium seats and all, if that gives you any idea how un-popular this movie apparently is, and for good reason.)</span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We chatted for a while after the movie was over and on the way home after dropping her off, I stopped at the post office to check the mail.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I often do, I take the mail to one of the tables in the lobby to determine what is junk to be tossed in the trash can. When I arrived at the table, I was greeted by this lovely flyer asking me "?? WHY ??":</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsjdbQbs4qE/T5UVa95IcII/AAAAAAAAACc/jM3aSBpbeMI/s1600/securedownload-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsjdbQbs4qE/T5UVa95IcII/AAAAAAAAACc/jM3aSBpbeMI/s320/securedownload-2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can only presume that the person asking this question is implying that those of us who do not believe in their god should not be living in Tennessee. You'll notice there is an e-mail address (<a href="mailto:terrancepiedmont@yahoo.com">terrancepiedmont@yahoo.com</a>) at the bottom of this flyer, to which I am sending a link to this blog post in order that the person asking such a ridiculous question might understand that not only am I willing to answer the question for her, him, or shim, but also for anyone else who might have ever pondered such a presumptive question.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do I live in the "bible belt" even though I do not believe in "God"? (I assume you are referring to the Christian god and not one of hundreds of other gods.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, I don't actually live in the bible belt. And yet, I do live in the bible belt. Let me explain.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grew up mostly in the state of Tennessee. I find Tennessee to be one of the most beautiful areas in the country, with much to offer those of us who value mountains and trees and hills and valleys.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The geographical area referred to on maps as "Tennessee" is a natural part of planet earth. It has no belief system, no superstition, no preference for who walks upon its soil, to whom one living on its territory is married, whether or not they use birth control or with whom they have had sex...</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trees and the mountains do not require that anyone gazing upon them hold any superstitious belief in invisible beings whatsoever, nor is there any requirement that I am aware of that one speaks to these invisible deities in order to reside here.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact that the land mass known as "Tennessee" happens to be located in an area larger than itself labeled as "the bible belt" has nothing to do with the land mass, but rather with the majority of people who reside upon it.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As evidenced by the flyer under discussion, many of these people fancy themselves to be more worthy of living in this area than those who do not share their superstitious beliefs in invisible beings who make rules about what humans are forbidden to eat (shrimp, lobster, and all other shellfish) and then dictate them to ancient people who have no idea where lightning comes from.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me assure the author of the above flyer that, according to the United States Constitution, you are absolutely wrong.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Superstitious people who join clubs called "churches" and engage in group rituals where they drink wine and/or grape juice and pretend that it is the blood of their magical invisible friend and eat crackers or wafers and pretend that it is their magical invisible friend's flesh do NOT own the state of Tennessee, nor do they own any other part of the earth that falls under the label of "bible belt".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason certain parts of the geographical land mass of North America are called "the bible belt" is because those areas are known to have a majority of people who are extremely superstitious and engage in the ritual I have just described. The term "bible belt" came about because the majority of people in those areas are known to practice such superstitious rituals and are also known for having little or no tolerance for anyone different than themselves, but long before people ever lived in the area known as the "bible belt" and swarmed and settled there, it was, and still is, just a mass of beautiful land where any human being might wish to live and enjoy the view.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I happen to be one of those people. I also happen to be a humanist who values ALL human persons and believes it is my responsibility to help those whom I can personally rather than simply praying to an invisible friend and hoping they will feed them and provide their needs. I also happen to be an atheist - someone who does not believe in any god or gods.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the most part, I can live peacefully and respect those who practice superstitious rituals in groups gathered in buildings called churches. I have many friends who do just that, and we get along just fabulously.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, when I encounter people who do those things who imply that they are morally superior to me because I do not share their superstitious beliefs, that's where my tolerance ends.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find it extremely disturbing that anyone would think they have any more right to the beautiful land mass known as Tennessee (or any other area contained in what is referred to as "the bible belt") than anyone else for ANY reason at all, whether because of the color of their skin, their gender, their hair color, or whether they talk to invisible people and engage in the symbolic cannibalism known as "communion".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The flyer in the image on this page is the perfect example of bigotry in its most insidious, vulgar form. It is extremely disturbing and vile to anyone who values human beings in general to imply that those who are not in the majority shouldn't choose to live in such a beautiful place as Tennessee.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As someone who has had people who used to be dear friends from childhood turn their backs on our friendship in favor of their superstitious practices which they believe precludes them from continuing a beautiful friendship with someone who does not share their desire to engage in superstitious beliefs, practices, or the studies thereof which teach one that they must do those things, I can tell you that I have every reason to be thoroughly alarmed and disgusted.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am regularly criticized and even ridiculed by people, some of with whom I am friendly, for being so "militant" and "extreme" and making "incessant posts" and going on "atheist rants".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nevermind that I don't criticize and ridicule people who post frequent prayer requests for things ranging from illness to job interviews and everything in between... (I usually post encouraging words and practical suggestions for finding quality health solutions and job interviewing techniques and refrain from any commentary on the prayer aspect of the request.) These people nonetheless find that my self-expression of why superstitious things make no sense to be less valid than the self-expression of those who are superstitious.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes the things I post may seem rather cruel. Sometimes they seem to ridicule and belittle those who practice superstitious rituals as a part of their belief system, but those people who know me and love me realize that my posts are not aimed at those who are merely religious, but rather at those who believe their religion entitles them to attempt to control others and force them to adhere to their religious views via legislative action and encroachment upon the rights of others.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your right to your superstitious beliefs and symbolically cannibalistic rituals ends where my right to worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster begins. Your right to pray in school ends where others' rights to allow you to pray silently or privately without forcing them to listen to it over a loud speaker begins.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Compared to many atheists I know, I am not militant at all. What I consider to be militant is someone who refuses to have anything whatsoever to do with anyone who is religious or believes in any god or gods, including family members. I believe that to be as ridiculous as a former friend of mine who severed our friendship going back to middle school because I refused to stop expressing my disgust for bigoted behavior in religious people when I see it.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So back to your question: Why do I live in "the bible belt" even though I don't believe in your god? Because I like the view. I may not like the fact that the place is infested with superstitious people who regularly practice bigotry as though it were a virtue, but it doesn't make the mountains any less beautiful.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, there is another reason why I choose to stay here despite the fact that many religious people would like to see all non-believers leave so they can have the place to themselves... It's because I believe it is my responsibility to make sure that this beautiful area of North America remains open to ALL human beings, not just those who hold the belief that their superstitions are superior to anyone else's or that they are better people than those of us who value actual, real, flesh-and-blood human beings over invisible friends.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To that end, I am a brave soldier.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I may not wear a uniform. I may not receive a salary. I may not get any respect from my government or from many of my family or friends. I may not hold a special rank or title. But every day, I'm on the lookout for threats to the freedom of not only people like me who are not believers, but also people UNLIKE myself who ARE believers of a different variety than those who are in the majority in this area often referred to as "the bible belt".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To do that, it is necessary that often I am a disruptor. I am a bucket of cold water in the face of those who engage in the delusion that the world works the way they believe it works simply because that is what they have decided to believe. I am a painful electrical jolt in the solar plexus of those who are content to exclude those unlike themselves from receiving respect and the ability to participate equally in receiving benefits from the government into which they have paid simply because they have found joy in living and expressing physical affection with someone who has the same genitalia as themselves.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do I get death threats from people who call themselves "Christians"? Yes. Often.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have I lost friends because I insist on standing up to the bigotry of those with whom I am friendly when I see it? Absolutely.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does that make me any less relentless in demanding that people stop and take a good long look in the mirror of truth regarding the harm that their superstitious belief system has wrought in the past and continues to bring in the present? Fuck no.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes I'm a real cunt when it comes to ridiculing the ridiculous. I try not to hurt the feelings of those whom I love and make sure I express the fact that my ridicule is only aimed at those who use their superstition as an excuse for their own bigoted opinions, but I'm learning not to lose too much sleep over the fact that I may inadvertently offend some of those people who don't engage in such practices, and the reason why can best be summed up here:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q3-QVzuczHQ/T5UkAyDBfdI/AAAAAAAAACk/FiFO_-xQMS8/s1600/securedownload.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q3-QVzuczHQ/T5UkAyDBfdI/AAAAAAAAACk/FiFO_-xQMS8/s320/securedownload.png" width="213" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If that doesn't explain to you why I choose to live in an area that I find quite beautiful despite the fact that it may be overrun with bigoted people who masquerade as morally superior individuals under the guise of religion, and why I choose to serve as a militant soldier fighting for the rights of ALL people to live here if they so choose, regardless of whether they engage in symbolic cannibalism of a zombie raised from the dead or not, then you are far beyond help and all I can do is pray to the <a href="http://www.venganza.org/">Flying Spaghetti Monster</a> that he will touch you with His Noodley Appendage and cure you of your mental infirmity.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_44110259"></span><span id="goog_44110260"></span></span></div></div>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-50189741127363511502012-03-27T00:18:00.002-07:002012-03-27T03:36:03.259-07:00The Trans-Vaginal: It's Not Public Transportation OR Public Property<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't had much time for blogging this year. Behind the scenes, I've been dealing with paperwork snafus related to a book release and family health issues (including my own). There have been numerous issues that have come up that I desperately wanted to blog about but just couldn't find the time.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inevitably, however, there is always that one issue that is such a hot button that it warrants addressing on the blog regardless of what I have to carve time from in order to do it. This is one of those issues.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What brought this issue to the top of my priority list was an amazing (and wisely anonymous) doctor who has started a movement advocating civil disobedience by doctors nationwide on behalf of their female patients who are seeking to terminate their pregnancies.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is the link to that story:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roe V. World:&nbsp;<a href="http://jezebel.com/5895451/a-doctors-manifesto-for-fighting-transvaginal-ultrasounds">A Doctor's Manifesto for Fighting Transvaginal Ultrasounds</a></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, let me tell you that when I shared this story with some of my friends, I got a mixed reaction and it started a gaggle of responses not limited to this story in particular but to the whole anti-abortion/anti-choice issue in general.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No matter how often I say that I am anti-abortion and pro-choice, it seems there are people who just don't get it. You really can be totally repulsed by the idea of abortion (as I am) and at the same time still respect the fact that other people have the ultimate right to decide what does, and does not, stay inside of their bodies.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have never been pregnant. Therefore, I can not say with certainty whether or not I would ever be able to have an abortion, regardless of how the pregnancy came about. However, I'm pretty sure I couldn't ever go through with it, even if it meant that the pregnancy would put my life in danger, as it probably would. (I've been told I probably wouldn't survive a pregnancy due to autoimmune issues, and probably would miscarry for the same reason.) Still, the very idea of abortion is so awful to me that I would likely risk all of that in order to avoid what would be a horrific idea for me to even consider and an even more horrific experience.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But let's just say, for the sake of argument, that my rheumatologist and cardiologist convinced me that terminating the pregnancy was my only option to ensure that my life was not put in jeopardy by a pregnancy. And let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the pregnancy came about as a result of a rape.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under current legislation in many states, I would have to undergo a second rape before I would be legally allowed to terminate my pregnancy.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I explained this to my anti-choice friends, they scoffed. "But it's just an <i>ultrasound</i>. It's not like it's <i>invasive</i>. How can you call that rape???"</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This, my friends, is the perfect example of how arrogant ignorance lulls American citizens into complacency, which facilitates the passing of repugnant laws which even those signing the legislation into law likely do not fully understand.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently, many people assume that there is only one kind of ultrasound... the kind they've seen on television where a happily pregnant woman has some slimy goo spread on her belly and there's a harmless-looking computer-mouse-like object being moved across her protruding stomach with the image of the developing fetus appearing on a monitor overhead. This is <i>not</i>&nbsp;the ultrasound you will have to undergo if you are ever raped and wish not to undergo the additional ordeal of carrying a pregnancy to term and enduring labor, which undoubtedly is a constant reminder to many women of the rape that impregnated them to begin with. (Yes, I know that some are able to overcome that, but that doesn't excuse the further traumatization of those who can not.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The actual ultrasound you will be FORCED to undergo BY LAW if you should ever find yourself wanting to end a pregnancy in any state requiring it is a transvaginal ultrasound, and it is NOT DONE EXTERNALLY.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After being told I had a palpable cyst on my right ovary, I was scheduled for a transvaginal ultrasound. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was explained to me that a probe would be inserted vaginally in order to explore internal reproductive organs, and that would hopefully allow a determination of whether this cyst was something to be concerned about or not.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a horrible phobia of anything being inserted into my body of any kind, but especially something so intimate. You want to talk about something that goes "against nature", don't let me hear the word "homosexual" come out of your mouth. How about ramming an object up your twat and beaming pictures of your insides onto a television screen? Doesn't get more "against nature" than that. If there were a god or gods, I'm quite certain he/she/it/they never would have intended for their "special creatures" to experience such a humiliating and agonizing procedure.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's so bad about it? How is it like rape?</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, for me, it was something I did voluntarily. But even then, one must understand that any kind of penetration of a sexual orifice not done for pleasure or pro-creation is very unpleasant for many of us, and sometimes even painful. Imagine, then, that you are forced to undergo the following procedure NOT in order to diagnose a condition, but because some needle-dicked, sanctimonious prick who has no idea what a transvaginal ultrasound even INVOLVES signed something into law that says you can't have a medically-recommended abortion unless you undergo this VERY INVASIVE AND UNCOMFORTABLE procedure.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, there's the fact that you're opening your legs to someone who isn't a lover. Some people are able to disconnect themselves enough that <i>that</i> doesn't bother them, but not everyone can.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, they take a probe, and they put a CONDOM on it. That's right, they put a CONDOM on the probe for hygiene purposes before they insert it into your vagina. COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE A MORE RAPE-LIKE SCENARIO AND MEMORY-TRIGGERING EXPERIENCE IN THE MIND OF THE PERSON UNDERGOING SUCH A PROCEDURE WHO HAS BEEN THROUGH A RAPE WHICH PROMPTED THEM TO SEEK AN ABORTION REQUIRING SUCH PROCEDURE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Third, the probe, since it is made of rigid material and is NOT made of flexible organic material like a penis, does NOT conform to your shape AT ALL and is QUITE uncomfortable as it is being moved around inside of you to explore your internal organs.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because I have severe anxiety issues in general, and medical anxiety issues specifically, and penetration anxiety issues even MORE specifically, I have to have a sedative before I can even think about such a procedure. And yet, even with a sedative, I can tell you that this was an unpleasant and painful experience, despite the fact that I knew and am very comfortable with the person performing it. I can only imagine that someone in a different situation undergoing the procedure for different reasons with someone they don't even know would be quite traumatized, and for what? Because other people think they have the right to influence the decision the patient is making?</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You do NOT have the right to force ANYONE to consider YOUR point of view when they are making decisions about THEIR BODIES or THEIR HEALTH or THEIR LIVES. You. Just. Don't. But you ESPECIALLY do not have the right to do so in such a way that amounts to the legal definition of rape as described in the article I cited above and am quoting below:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Liberation Serif', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">"I do not feel that it is reactionary or even inaccurate to describe an unwanted, non-indicated transvaginal ultrasound as "rape". If I insert ANY object into ANY orifice without informed consent, it is rape. And coercion of any kind negates consent, informed or otherwise."</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Liberation Serif', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At one point during <i>my</i>&nbsp;procedure, the ultrasound wand made contact with my right ovary and the cyst of which it was attempting to transmit an image. It was obviously tender, and the contact was so painful that I remember struggling to get up. It was an instinctive reaction that caused even MORE pain since that caused jostling of the wand, still inside of me, as I panicked and tried to escape the pain. I don't know if the pain put me into shock or if I blacked out after that. I don't remember much after that except coming back to awareness and being glad that it was over. But I can tell you that if <i>that</i> was <i>that</i>&nbsp;painful for me, someone who is pregnant is likely going to experience similar "discomfort" as pain-minimizing doctors are prone to call it.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is astonishing to me that the same people who expect everyone to butt out of THEIR lives regarding whom they marry, (so long as they marry someone of the opposite sex, of course, since the same anti-choice folks are usually also homophobic), where they live, their career of choice, how they educate or raise their children, and how they express their "spirituality" or what god or gods they worship seem to think so much of themselves that they think THEY should have the right to tell someone ELSE what to do with what is inside of their body.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was another conversation among friends where someone attempted to derail the point by challenging everyone to explain when they thought life began, and mentioning that the scientific definition of life is that it begins at the moment of conception.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not disagree with that at all. Life definitely begins at the moment of conception.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, it is important that we learn to have a more intelligent understanding of "life".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An amoeba is "alive". A couple of cells that have the potential to become an organism if they are allowed to develop could be considered "alive", but "alive" and "life" is not a valid benchmark by which to judge whether or not a living, breathing, consciously-aware woman with an already-developed brain should have her entire personhood invalidated in favor of a developing organism inside of her that is scientifically also defined as a parasite until it is fully-developed and delivered.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is unintelligent to even CONSIDER that a developing organism is more important or even EQUALLY as important as the fully-developed human being inside of whom it is developing. I make no apology for pointing out the unintelligent nature of such a thought process, either. Unintelligent is as unintelligent does.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, despite the fact that I am totally repulsed by even the IDEA of an abortion, I find that the attitude toward women, that they are nothing more than unimportant incubators the moment they become pregnant and are less important than the developing organism inside of them to the point where they must be subjected to rape-by-ultrasound before they are allowed to undergo an abortion which they, for whatever reason, believe to be necessary for their survival, either physically or psychologically or emotionally, to be even more repugnant than the idea of abortion itself.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a man seeking Viagra because you can't get your penis hard anymore, I say that before you should be given a prescription you should be required to experience religious people protesting outside of your doctor's office and carrying signs saying that your god or gods do not want you having sex and that taking Viagra is a morally reprehensible crime against nature. Then, once inside the exam room, you should also be forced to undergo a trans-penile ultrasound showing you exactly which parts of your penis said Viagra is going to affect and how it is going to affect it, and for good measure, since Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs carry with them a risk of stroke, you should also be required to view stroke patients slobbering all over themselves as their family members wipe their asses for them... and then, if you decide that you still want to go ahead with your un-natural sexual activities in violation of "nature's" or "God's" wishes, then you may proceed.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We live in a world full of hypocrites who claim everything THEY do is NOBODY else's business, but if you dare do something THEY wouldn't do, they seem to have the opinion that they have the right to FORCE you to hear THEIR reasonings, and only after torturing you physically in order to get you to "see" their point of view, you may proceed with what they know is already your right to begin with, or it wouldn't be legal, with or without said torturous "medical procedures".</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most doctors I know are disgusted with politicians attempting to practice medicine and/or tell them how to practice medicine. I can understand their disgust. Twelve years or more of higher education and some sniveling, smug-faced politician with MAYBE a Master's degree is telling you what you MUST put your patient through, even in violation of the Hippocratic oath, which states "First, do no harm...", and presumably indicates no PSYCHOLOGICAL harm as well.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And they wonder why we hate politicians.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll say it one more time: Stay the HELL out of my VaJayJay. And everybody else's too, please.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-77676230862568356732012-01-31T01:16:00.000-08:002012-01-31T01:16:30.137-08:00Discrimination Against Bigots<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ok, you knew it was coming. How could I *not* blog about our oh-so-arrogantly-ignorant Senator Stacey Campfield and the bomb of misinformation which he has released lately?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First, let's start with the fact that this woefully uneducated Senator made the statement that it was his understanding that A.I.D.S. was introduced into the human species by a single airline pilot who had sex with a monkey and then had sex with men.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now, Senator Campfield claims that the comment was made "on the fly". In other words, he attempted to discuss a topic about which he knows nothing and grabbed the first myth that popped into his head.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He also went on to say that:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>"I'm not a historian on AIDS," he said in an interview Friday. "But I've read and seen what other people have read and seen, and those facts are out there."</blockquote><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ok, well, nobody said you had to be a historian on A.I.D.S. My question is, why are you working with the level of information that the average 5-year-old child might have on the subject when you are attempting to make policy on whether or not homosexual safe sex should be taught in schools?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Furthermore, notice that he claims that he has "read and seen what other people have read and seen, and those facts are out there." Ok, first of all, I've read and seen all kinds of ridiculous things that other people have read and seen, that doesn't mean that I judge whether something is valid or not based on such ridiculous criteria.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Furthermore, "those facts are out there" shows that he clearly doesn't understand the difference between "facts" and "claims". Yes, those claims are out there. They are not facts. In FACT, his information is based on material from more than 20 years ago. Surely he realizes that keeping abreast of current science research is part of his responsibility when making policy regarding such issues?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The sad thing is, even the most skimming glance at the CDC web site, which is perhaps the primary source for reliable information on H.I.V. and A.I.D.S., would have allowed him to avoid making himself look like such a buffoon.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The problem isn't necessarily just that Stacey Campfield's education-level regarding one of the most devastating viruses known to the human race in the past 100 years is stuck at about a second-grade level. The problem is that his failure to educate himself before forming an opinion has not only revealed him to be something of a monkey himself, but he is spreading the disease of ignorance via misinformation in a way that actually endangers lives.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That's where we get to the second leg of his ridiculous comments, which include the statement that it is "virtually impossible" for individuals to become infected with the H.I.V. virus via heterosexual sex.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Really? Here is a direct quote from the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/surveillance/incidence/sote/heterosexuals-race-sex.htm">CDC web site</a>:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Heterosexual transmission accounted for the second largest route of HIV transmission in the United States in 2006."</blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wow. The second LARGEST ROUTE of HIV transmission in the United States in 2006. If that's "virtually impossible", I'd hate to see what "highly likely" looks like!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But let's just say for the sake of argument that all of the bullshit spewed from the mouth of this arrogantly ignorant mis-representative of the people of Tennessee were true... does it really matter?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Whether the information he claimed was true or not (it isn't), he is attempting to exclude homosexual safe sex education from being taught along with other types of safe sex instruction because he "doesn't agree" with homosexuals.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm not sure what delusion one would suffer from in order to believe that not agreeing with who a person is allows one the privilege of denying them life-saving information that can a) prevent them from dying a long, slow, horrible death and b) save the taxpayers from having to foot the bill for the medical care for as many A.I.D.S. patients which most often have no choice but to make use of indigent care programs paid for by taxpayers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In essence, the message that Senator Campfield is sending is that he thinks it's perfectly fine if homosexuals die of A.I.D.S. because they didn't receive proper education in sex-ed class, because he thinks they are sinful people who are an abomination to his invisible friend.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I "don't agree" with religious people who attempt to create a country with policies based on what people wrote thousands of years ago who didn't even know where lightning comes from. That doesn't mean that I would deny him or his kind a proper education about how to save his life.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I won't get into the realities of how there are more than 300 species of animals with homosexual populations among them, because that is obviously way over the head of anyone like Stacey Campfield and I wouldn't want his head to explode from too much science being introduced at once.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What I will say is that I am very proud of Bistro owner Martha Boggs for having the courage to stand up to such an arrogantly ignorant jackass and not just mindlessly smile and not like so many southern women have been taught to do in the presence of "authority figures".</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If a man-child like Stacey Campfield had the courage to face someone like me and I had the opportunity to present counter-arguments face-to-face with him, I would most like to address his claim that Martha Boggs was "unprofessional" in her interaction with him:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Senator Campfield: What is "unprofessional" is when someone allows their religion to get in the way of adequately advocating for the rights of ALL of their constituents based solely on the fact that they believe in invisible beings whom they believe have spoken through ancient people to say that having a natural attraction to people of the same sex is morally wrong.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am 100% certain that Senator Campfield commits quite a few sins on a daily basis.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When you allow your personal religious beliefs to prevent you from doing your job, which is to serve ALL of your constituents and not just the ones you "agree" with, ESPECIALLY when it comes to life-saving health education, you have proven yourself unworthy to serve at taxpayer expense.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you would like to refund every homosexual person the amount of tax money they have been forced to pay toward your salary, perhaps they wouldn't mind so much that you are practicing religious-based bigotry against a large portion of Tennessee's population. Until then, you need to re-evaluate your priorities.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If your beliefs put you at odds with your duties, the morally right thing to do would be to give up the one which you feel is less important. You have a right to your religious views. You do not have a right to deny life-saving education to ANYONE based on religious beliefs.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In fact, your attempt to enact laws which you have clearly acknowledged are based solely on religion would seem to be in violation of the United States Constitution, since it prefers your particular religion which happens to view homosexuality as "wrong", despite the fact that there are other religions which do not view it as such.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Separation of church and state. That includes those who attempt to legislate based on personal religious beliefs alone.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tennessee is not your church, and you do not have the right to subject us to the views of your church to the detriment of an entire segment of our population.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Either give up your attempts to make the state of Tennessee into your own personal Sunday school class, or go monkey around somewhere else.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3042195950502929487.post-79764327468734417652012-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-19T21:12:48.817-08:00En-Lighten-MentThe new year is well underway, and most of the decorations one sees while driving around during the winter holiday season are gone. However, there are a surprising number of people who, like myself, enjoy the soft glow of lights on the trees we put up inside our homes so much that we are not so anxious to see them gone (especially the fire-safe, artificial variety).<br /><br />I often remind people who celebrate Christmas yet are in a huge rush to dismantle all of their decorations before New Year's Eve that Christmas BEGINS on December 25th, but doesn't officially end until January 6th. That's because January 6th is the 12th day of Christmas, which is Epiphany. It is on that day that, according to legend, the three kings arrived to visit the baby Jesus.<br /><br />I often hear my Christian friends reminding one another that "Jesus is the reason for the season", and yet, it seems that once the presents are unwrapped and the stockings emptied, there's as big a rush to dismantle all visual signs of the Christian holiday as there was to get the "black Friday" deals at the stores.<br /><br />You'd think this wouldn't bother an atheist like me, but it does. Perhaps the biggest problem I have with it is that it seems that once the visual reminders of the holiday celebrations are gone, many people (not just Christians) develop amnesia when it comes to remembering to practice compassion and kindness.<br /><br />I also happen to enjoy holiday music, especially the secular tunes. I'm so disappointed when, after playing the holiday music on the local radio stations for weeks, it comes to a screeching halt after midnight on December 26th each year.<br /><br />Really? You started playing it shortly after Halloween, but you can't manage to tolerate it until January 6th? How about we wait until after Thanksgiving to START playing it, then surely we can manage to continue playing it until after the cultural holiday traditions are commpleted and the holidays have officially ended?<br /><br />Most of the holidays we celebrate which are hailed as "religious" holidays are actually more secular and cultural in origin, with religions adopting and adapting them after the fact, and it is the cultural value that I appreciate most in these celebrations, since understanding what is behind them teaches us so much about our ancestors and our biological history.<br /><br />Back to the diminishing compassion and kindness: I've heard people who claim to be "good Christians" judging people who leave their decorations up after New Year's as being "tacky" or "trashy". How ironic that the people who are being called tacky are the ones who are observing the full length of the holiday rather than the commercial version, which ends just as soon as the gifts are all opened.<br /><br />How ironic that the theme of the holiday is kindness and compassion toward others, yet those who dismantle every possible sign of the holiday in such a rush are judging other people for such trivial things, labeling them as undesirables for attempting to keep the tenderness and beauty of the season alive as long as possible.<br /><br />I've seen other signs of lacking compassion and kindness in the new year... People who are frightened by inclement weather they aren't accustomed to are ridiculed because they "don't know how to drive in the snow", with nary a thought given to the fact that they just might be motivated by a deep love for their children in the back seat to go a little more slowly than their impatient counterparts find desirable, because they just really want to make sure they (and others) get home safely.<br /><br />Does anyone remember when they were first learning to drive in the snow? Have we forgotten that there are many young drivers on the road today? Call me an old sap, but when I see people slowing down far more than they probably need to as snow is falling, I find myself wishing they'd be this cautious when approaching traffic lights and stop signs even on a clear, sunny day.<br /><br />Annoyance is something we all feel, and I think it can be healthy to express it, but sometimes I think we focus a bit much on the fact that we are annoyed and forget what annoyance really is: ego. Annoyance is something the ego feels when it doesn't like the fact that the world isn't catering to our wishes. It says "My desire to get where I'm going more quickly is more important than anyone else's fear or safety. My wishes are more important than anything else that could cause things to not go my way."<br /><br />It seems that we are able to put our egos aside for a short while during December (at least once we've braved the stores for the gifts we hope will put a smile on our loved ones faces). However, it is a very short-lived sentiment that I would like to see year 'round, and I have noticed that those of us who can't bear to put our lighted trees away tend to have this desire for lasting compassion and kindness in common.<br /><br />I'm known for being somewhat of a non-conformist, and I knew there were others like me. However, I recently happened upon a post by a dear friend of mine from grade school who was "confessing" that she still had her tree up and how she enjoyed the beauty of the soft glowing lights. I planned to comment, but first I read the other comments (as I often do). I was filled with joy when I saw post after post of others happily proclaiming their love for their tree lights still up and proudly burning, and the accompanying warmth and joy they feel as they associate those lights with time spent in the company of loved ones.<br /><br />If there is anything we can and should carry into this new year, it is the knowledge that no matter how strange we think we are, no matter how others ridicule us because we don't blindly follow the masses, there are far more people just like us than we realize.<br /><br />Go forward in this new year with confidence that you are not only perfectly acceptable just as you are, but that you are also in far more good company than you may ever know!<br /><br />A.Angie Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00682182647372218377noreply@blogger.com0